1、课文原文+翻译 Unit 1Time-Conscious AmericansAmericans believe no one stands still. If you are not moving ahead, you are falling behind. This attitude results in a nation of people committed to researching, experimenting and exploring. Time is one of the two elements that Americans save carefully, the othe
2、r being labor. We are slaves to nothing but the clock, it has been said. Time is treated as if it were something almost real. We budget it, save it, waste it, steal it, kill it, cut it, account for it; we also charge for it. It is a precious resource. Many people have a rather acute sense of the sho
3、rtness of each lifetime. Once the sands have run out of a persons hourglass, they cannot be replaced. We want every minute to count. A foreigners first impression of the US is likely to be that everyone is in a rushoften under pressure. City people always appear to be hurrying to get where they are
4、going, restlessly seeking attention in a store, or elbowing others as they try to complete their shopping. Racing through daytime meals is part of the pace of life in this country. Working time is considered precious. Others in public eating-places are waiting for you to finish so they, too, can be
5、served and get back to work within the time allowed. You also find drivers will be abrupt and people will push past you. You will miss smiles, brief conversations, and small exchanges with strangers. Dont take it personally. This is because people value time highly, and they resent someone else wast
6、ing it beyond a certain appropriate point. Many new arrivals in the States will miss the opening exchanges of a business call, for example. They will miss the ritual interaction that goes with a welcoming cup of tea or coffee that may be a convention in their own country. They may miss leisurely bus
7、iness chats in a restaurant or coffee house. Normally, Americans do not assess their visitors in such relaxed surroundings over extended small talk; much less do they take them out for dinner, or around on the golf course while they develop a sense of trust. Since we generally assess and probe profe
8、ssionally rather than socially, we start talking business very quickly. Time is, therefore, always ticking in our inner ear. Consequently, we work hard at the task of saving time. We produce a steady flow of labor-saving devices; we communicate rapidly through faxes, phone calls or emails rather tha
9、n through personal contacts, which though pleasant, take longerespecially given our traffic-filled streets. We, therefore, save most personal visiting for after-work hours or for social weekend gatherings. To us the impersonality of electronic communication has little or no relation to the significa
10、nce of the matter at hand. In some countries no major business is conducted without eye contact, requiring face-to-face conversation. In America, too, a final agreement will normally be signed in person. However, people are meeting increasingly on television screens, conducting teleconferences to se
11、ttle problems not only in this country but alsoby satelliteinternationally. The US is definitely a telephone country. Almost everyone uses the telephone to conduct business, to chat with friends, to make or break social appointments, to say Thank you, to shop and to obtain all kinds of information.
12、Telephones save the feet and endless amounts of time. This is due partly to the fact that the telephone service is superb here, whereas the postal service is less efficient. Some new arrivals will come from cultures where it is considered impolite to work too quickly. Unless a certain amount of time
13、 is allowed to elapse, it seems in their eyes as if the task being considered were insignificant, not worthy of proper respect. Assignments are, consequently, given added weight by the passage of time. In the US, however, it is taken as a sign of skillfulness or being competent to solve a problem, o
14、r fulfill a job successfully, with speed. Usually, the more important a task is, the more capital, energy, and attention will be poured into it in order to get it moving. 美国人认为没有人能停止不前。如果你不求进取，你就会落伍。这种态度造就了一个投身于研究、实验和探索的民族。时间是美国人注意节约的两个要素之一，另一要素是劳力。人们一直说：“只有时间才能支配我们。”人们似乎把时间当作一个差不多是实实在在的东西来对待。我们安排时间
15、、节约时间、浪费时间、挤抢时间、消磨时间、缩减时间、对时间的利用作出解释；我们还要因付出时间而收取费用。时间是一种宝贵的资源，许多人都深感人生的短暂。时光一去不复返。我们应当让每一分钟都过得有意义。外国人对美国的第一印象很可能是：每个人都匆匆忙忙常常处于压力之下。城里人看上去总是在匆匆地赶往他们要去的地方，在商店里他们焦躁不安地指望店员能马上来为他们服务，或者为了赶快买完东西，用肘来推搡他人。白天吃饭时人们也都匆匆忙忙，这部分地反映出这个国家的生活节奏。人们认为工作时间是宝贵的。在公共用餐场所，人们都等着别人尽快吃完，以便他们也能及时用餐，你还会发现司机开车很鲁莽，人们推搡着在你身边过去。你会
16、怀念微笑、简短的交谈以及与陌生人的随意闲聊。不要觉得这是针对你个人的，这是因为人们都非常珍惜时间，而且也不喜欢他人“浪费”时间到不恰当的地步。许多刚到美国的人会怀念诸如商务拜访等场合开始时的寒暄。他们也会怀念那种一边喝茶或喝咖啡一边进行的礼节性交流，这也许是他们自己国家的一种习俗。他们也许还会怀念在饭店或咖啡馆里谈生意时的那种轻松悠闲的交谈。一般说来，美国人是不会在如此轻松的环境里通过长时间的闲聊来评价他们的客人的，更不用说会在增进相互间信任的过程中带他们出去吃饭，或带他们去打高尔夫球。既然我们通常是通过工作而不是社交来评估和了解他人，我们就开门见山地谈正事。因此，时间老是在我们心中滴滴答答地
17、响着。因此，我们千方百计地节约时间。我们发明了一系列节省劳力的装置；我们通过发传真、打电话或发电子邮件与他人迅速地进行交流，而不是通过直接接触。虽然面对面接触令人愉快，但却要花更多的时间，尤其是在马路上交通拥挤的时候。因此，我们把大多数个人拜访安排在下班以后的时间里或周末的社交聚会上。就我们而言，电子交流的缺乏人情味与我们手头上事情的重要性之间很少有或完全没有关系。在有些国家，如果没有目光接触，就做不成大生意，这需要面对面的交谈。在美国，最后协议通常也需要本人签字。然而现在人们越来越多地在电视屏幕上见面，开远程会议不仅能解决本国的问题，而且还能通过卫星解决国际问题。美国无疑是一个电话王国。几乎
18、每个人都在用电话做生意、与朋友聊天、安排或取消社交约会、表达谢意、购物和获得各种信息。电话不但能免去走路之劳，而且还能节约大量时间。其部分原因在于这样一个事实：美国的电话服务是一流的，而邮政服务的效率则差一些。有些初来美国的人来自文化背景不同的其他国家，在他们的国家，人们认为工作太快是一种失礼。在他们看来，如果不花一定时间来处理某件事的话，那么这件事就好像是无足轻重的，不值得给予适当的重视。 因此，人们觉得用的时间长会增加所做事情的重要性。但在美国，能迅速而又成功地解决问题或完成工作则被视为是有水平、有能力的标志。通常情况下，工作越重要，投入的资金、精力和注意力就越多，其目的是“使工作开展起来
19、”。Unit 2Learning the Olympic Standard for LoveNikolai Petrovich Anikin was not half as intimidating as I had imagined he would be. No, this surely was not the ex-Soviet coach my father had shipped me out to meet. But Nikolai he was, Petrovich and all. He invited me inside and sat down on the couch,
20、patting the blanket next to him to get me to sit next to him. I was so nervous in his presence. You are young, he began in his Russian-style English. If you like to try for Olympic Games, I guess you will be able to do this. Nagano Olympics too soon for you, but for 2002 in Salt Lake City, you could
21、 be ready. Yes, why not? he replied to the shocked look on my face. I was a promising amateur skier, but by no means the top skier in the country. Of course, there will be many hard training sessions, and you will cry, but you will improve. To be sure, there were countless training sessions full of
22、pain and more than a few tears, but in the five years that followed I could always count on being encouraged by Nikolais amusing stories and sense of humor. My friends, they go in the movies, they go in the dance, they go out with girls, he would start. But I, he would continue, lowering his voice,
23、I am practice, practice, practice in the stadium. And by the next year, I had cut 1-1/2 minutes off my time in the 15-kilometer race! My friends asked me, Nikolai, how did you do it? And I replied, You go in the movies, you go in the dance, you go out with girls, but I am practice, practice, practic
24、e. Here the story usually ended, but on one occasion, which we later learned was his 25th wedding anniversary, he stood proudly in a worn woolen sweater and smiled and whispered, And I tell you, I am 26 years old before I ever kiss a girl! She was the woman I later marry. Romantic and otherwise, Nik
25、olai knew love. His consistent good humor, quiet gratitude, perceptivity, and sincerity set an Olympic standard for love that I continue to reach for, even though my skiing days are over. Still, he never babied me. One February day I had a massive headache and felt quite fatigued. I came upon him in
26、 a clearing, and after approximately 15 minutes of striding into the cold breeze over the white powder to catch him, I fussed, Oh, Nikolai, I feel like I am going to die. When you are a hundred years old, everybody dies, he said, indifferent to my pain. But now, he continued firmly. Now must be ski,
27、 ski, ski. And, on skis, I did what he said. On other matters, though, I was rebellious. Once, he packed 10 of us into a Finnish bachelors tiny home for a low-budget ski camp. We awoke the first morning to find Nikolai making breakfast and then made quick work with our spoons while sitting on makesh
28、ift chairs around a tiny card table. When we were finished, Nikolai stacked the sticky bowls in front of my sole female teammate and me, asserting, Now, girls do dishes! I threw my napkin on the floor and swore at him, Ask the damn boys! This is unfair. He never asked this of me again, nor did he ta
29、ke much notice of my outburst. He saved his passion for skiing. When coaching, he would sing out his instructions keeping rhythm with our stride: Yes, yes, one-two-three, one-two-three. A dear lady friend of my grandfather, after viewing a copy of a video of me training with Nikolai, asked, Does he
30、also teach dance? In training, I worked without rest to correct mistakes that Nikolai pointed out and I asked after each pass if it was better. Yes, its OK. But the faster knee down, the better. But is it fast enough? Id persist. Finally he would frown and say, Billion times you make motionthen be p
31、erfect, reminding me in an Ive-told-you-a-billion-times tone, You must be patient. Nikolais patience and my hard work earned me a fourth-place national ranking heading into the pre-Olympic season, but then I missed the cut for the 2002 Olympics. Last summer, I returned to visit Nikolai. He made me t
32、ea. and did the dishes! We talked while sitting on his couch. Missing the Olympic Team the previous year had made me pause and reflect on what I had gainednot the least of which was a quiet, indissoluble bond with a short man in a tropical shirt. Nikolai taught me to have the courage, heart, and discipline to persist, even if it takes a billion tries. He taught me to be thankful in advance for a century of life on earth, and to remind myself every day that despite the challenges at hand, Now must be love, love, love.尼克莱彼得罗维奇安尼金一点都不
